Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary diatomaceous earth (DE) on egg quality traits in deep litter hens. A total of 280 Lohmann Brown pullets were at 20 weeks of age divided into 4 groups. Three groups were fed on one of the three experimental diets supplemented with 2%, 3% or 4% DE, while the fourth group was fed on a control diet without DE supplementation. Each group had seven replicates of 10 birds. One egg was collected randomly per replicate (for a total of 7 eggs per group), weighed and determined for: yolk weight, albumen weight, eggshell weight, eggshell thickness, specific gravity, albumen height, yolk height, yolk colour and Haugh unit. Findings showed that DE supplementation resulted into significant (p<0.05) increase in eggshell weight and yolk height. Dietary supplementation with DE in the current study was, however, not effective on other egg quality parameters such as on eggshell weight percentage, egg specific gravity, yolk colour and Haugh unit. However, results of the study also showed that DE supplementation improved significantly (p<0.05) egg quality especially by improving viscosity as flocks grew older as compared to younger flocks. Further research should focus on the effect of dietary DE on eggshell and bone strength of layer birds. Research should also explore the interactions among the minerals found in DE (e.g. calcium, phosphorus and magnesium) and how these interactions affect egg quality in laying hens.
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